| "In
theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; In
practice, there is." Chuck Reid
First, thanks to Chuck and everyone else for bringing this together.
It was a great success.
I wanted to humbly post my experience in the hope that it might
help others who decide to undertake this event (or sail in any
unfamiliar water). As some may have heard, I capsized my Sea Pearl
21 several hours into day one of the 2009 Texas 200 ("It
was as 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour..."). Before the race,
I read the account from last year about the unfortunate family
who capsized and abandoned the trip and thought to myself, "Those
poor people shouldn't go out if they can't sail in these conditions."...
I have been sailing this boat for many years with this same set
of lugsails and have been on many downwind runs on Lake Travis.
I also spent two windy days on Matagorda Bay camping near Army
Hole. In all that time, I have never come close to being broached.
On a scale of one -ten, I would rate the Matagorda Island sail
a five with regard to challenge and instability.
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Some gear |
I have also pulled the boat over on her side, filled her with
water and tried unsuccessfully to get her to capsize. I was highly
confident that she could not be turned over. I did not realize
that a seemingly small change in conditions (three - four feet
of chop and a following sea) could make such difference in stability.
I started the Texas 200 late on Monday (after 10am). You all
know the conditions (roughly 20+ mph from the South with chop
and some whitecaps). We started late so it was a little windier
and choppier that it was earlier in the morning.
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I started with both main and mizzen lugs reefed
and fully raised on the mast. The destination was due north.
I alternated reaching and running while I tuned the sails
and headed for the ship channel. Both leeboards were fully
down. We were heavily loaded for a five day trip. |
An occasional wave tried to turn me from the run but nothing
too serious. She seemed to do better if I took the swells from
dead astern. My main kept twisting badly so I pulled out of the
channel, pulled the mizzen tight to hold position and took off
the jaws I was using on the main boom. I brought the downhaul
back to about eighteen inches from the front end of the boom so
I could get a better vang effect. I also unreefed the main since
I was unhappy with the way the reefing points were installed and
didn't feel overpowered. I left the mizzen reefed.
Given my previous experience with the boat, I wasn't on high
alert. Neither the sea state nor the wind speed seemed unusually
dangerous. Nonetheless, we were both wearing vests. I had one
hand on the tiller and one on the main sheet.
We had about four minutes of perfect sailing before things got
exciting. I was running with the wind, with the main and mizzen
about twenty degrees forward of the mast, when I broached and
capsized. Here is how it happened as far as I can tell.
When I unreefed the main, I increased the boats speed and generally
powered up the boat. This left me on top of the swells longer
and raised the rudder out of the water for longer periods of time.
Alternatively, it could have kicked the rudder up due to the speed
(we were flying). A larger waive raised us up and we slid down
into the trough on our starboard side very quickly. Turning this
way powered up both sails since they had been running forward
of the mast. Had the sails been twenty degrees back they would
have jibed. Additionally, my over sized bimini probably caught
some wind.
I had no tiller control (the tiller was hard over trying to bring
us back downwind). As we started to roll, the main sheet got fully
released, but not the mizzen (no time). As the wave gathered itself
up, I think the fully extended lee board helped us to "trip"
onto the side.
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The boat didn't hesitate when the sails hit
the water, but continued to rotate quickly down to fully inverted.
We both got out as she went over. |
Her main mast was sitka spruce and about eighteen feet long.
We were in nine feet of water. The spar on the main sail stood
much higher. I think the spar caught the bottom almost as soon
as the sails hit the water. This drove her main mast about eight
feet into the shell and mud.
A three foot piece of upper spar floated to the surface. It was
a piece from the middle, cracked at both ends. She could not right
herself as she was impaled on eighteen feet of near vertical mast
in nine feet of water. (Note to self - take rescue saw on next
sailing trip.)
Dan, Rick, and Kevin (thanks again guys) noticed we had disappeared
and came back to see what had happened. Kevin bravely jumped into
the water to help me try to right her. We finally got her back
over but it required all of our weight and we ended up cracking
a lee board, snapping the mast (sob) and breaking the mast tube.
I was able to retrieve the mizzen mast, but the main mast and
both sails were badly caught on some underwater object and were
abandoned. When righted, her rails were just above the water.
The waves were breaking over the rails about every third wave.
Bailing her out completely only took a medium effort.
Once we got her back over and bailed, we sat at anchor until
towed. The wind was too strong to row back.
In retrospect, I was overconfident by flying too much sail and
it was too high up. I could have both reefed and lowered the lugs.
I should have had the leeboards less deployed and I should have
distributed and secured the weight in the hold better. I should
have had the rudder secured against kicking up. Also, our gear
should have been packed submersion ready and I should have tied
everything to the boat as I do when I sea kayak. Releasing the
mizzen first, instead of the main, might have straightened her
out. Running drag lines behind me may also have helped keep her
stern to the wind.
Based on my lack of experience in this type water, I was simply
ignorant about the possibility of a broach. Based on my flat water
testing, I was also extremely confident that she could not be
turned over.
I take full responsibility for this incident. It was beyond my
limited experience and totally unexpected. I endangered my passenger,
lost a lot (a lot) of gear (in addition to the mast and sails)
and damaged my boat.
The major losses were the sails and main mast, lots of camping
gear and most of the medical gear my girlfriend, Maura, was bringing
along as in informal trip medic (she's an RN/Search and Rescue
paramedic). Fortunately, no one was hurt and most of the boat
was recovered.
From what I can tell, this was a rookie mistake and purely operator
error. The Sea Pearl 21, in other hands, routinely handles conditions
much worse than this without incident.
The pictures may be instructive to show how differently a boat
will behave in a lake test verses open water.
This is a more serious event than it might appear to be. There
is no formal support. You are on your own. It was mostly coincidence
that we received help as quickly as we did. If we had left five
minutes later or taken a slightly different course, we might have
been stuck on the overturned hull until nightfall. There was no
other boat traffic in the channel for several hours. I would recommend
that anyone thinking of participating in this event practice capsizing
and recovering their fully loaded boat in adverse conditions.
Do test your flotation. Also, realize that some capsize events
are unrecoverable. Be prepared to spend some time on your overturned
hull and have water and multiple ways to call for help.
I hope this information is helpful.
Tom
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